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When you visit the Craft Market at Spier, you’ll notice the village feel, the eight units in a circle facing into an open communal space where the artists work, and finished animal sculptures roam. Each unit is shared by about four artists, who take it in turns to be there, working and chatting to visitors. Over the next few weeks we’ll visit each unit in turn, introducing you to the artists and their work.
Unit 1 is home to Godfrey Dambuleni’s recycled art, Jeff Mwazha’s crushed wire sculpture, Bongani Khumalo’s beaded wire masterpieces, and Tafara Karidza’s detailed 3D township scenes.
Godfrey Dambuleni (aka Gora) makes innovative use of recycled materials. One of his key techniques is creating patchworks of tins and cans which he sews together over frames to make unusual trophy heads and substantial animal sculptures. Some of his best-selling pieces are the globes and half globes, where he uses a similar technique, cutting the shapes of the continents from metal and applying them to the globes, in three different sizes. For smaller pieces he uses another technique, wrapping overlapping strips of recycled metal cans around a frame.
Jeff Mwazha predominantly uses wire sourced from scrapyards and is one of the foremost crushed metal wire workers in the country. His technique for sculptures of all sizes starts with a wire frame which he then fills with crushed wire built up in many layers. Some of his larger sculptures such as the almost full size leopard are then clad in curls of wire.
His 2D trees, from majestic baobabs to windblown tree silhouettes are consistent sellers, as are his range of smaller creatures, chickens, cats, birds, which he powder coats in bright colours for weather protection.
Read more about Gora and Jeff’s recycled art here: http://www.sueheathcockprojects.co.za/news/recycled-art-at-spier-craft-market
Bongani Khumalo is a master artist in beaded wirework. His animal sculptures and trophy heads have a special life to them which comes from his skill in shaping the frames and ability to capture the essence of the animal. He shapes all the frames himself, with a team that helps with the actual beading. At the market his best sellers are his miniature masterpieces, animal sculptures that are small enough to take home in a suitcase, and his kudu trophy head, of which he does a white beaded version as well as one in natural kudu colours. Bongani tells his story here http://www.spier.co.za/blog/meet-our-crafters-bongani-khumalo
Tafara Karidza is a graphic designer by training and a graduate of Spier Arts Academy mosaic programme. He’s currently leading a production team for them as well as continuing his own work.
For the market he creates painting s on a wood base with added 3D elements in recycled cans and other found materials, depicting Cape Town scenes and townships. He’s having a strong season selling paintings of all sizes. Tafara tells us more about his work here http://www.sueheathcockprojects.co.za/news/township-scenes-as-recycled-art-at-spier-market
